The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer Page A

shuddered. Ruslan would have him, then, and he’d never get a second chance to escape.
    Magic whispered against his senses, right behind him. Kiran started and nearly lost his grip on the oilcloth.
    “Easy, lad, it’s only me.” Harken patted him on the shoulder, his dark eyes kind. “Storm has you on edge, does it? Same goes for the animals.” He nodded to the tethered outrider horses, who were snorting and tossing their heads. “Even good-natured, steady sorts like these don’t care much for thunder and lightning, so we drovers have a little trick...” He opened one blunt-fingered hand. A pile of thumbnail-sized discs, each bearing a single swirled rune, gleamed in his callused palm.
    “Muting charms?” Kiran blinked at the harmless little charms, berating himself for reacting so strongly to their minor magic.
    Harken smiled at him in approval. “Exactly, lad. Put one of these on a halter...” He moved to the nearest horse and deftly clipped a charm to the inside of the halter’s cheek strap. “Even the nerviest of beasts will sit meek as you please through a nasty storm. It doesn’t totally block their senses, you understand—they wouldn’t like that much. Only dims them, so all the noise and light aren’t so overwhelming.” He pulled a knife from his belt, pricked his thumb, and smeared a tiny drop of blood on the charm to activate it.
    Kiran’s breath caught in his throat as an idea blossomed. “That’s...very interesting. May I see one?”
    “Sure.” Harken tossed a charm onto the wagon’s outboard. “I’ve got plenty.”
    Kiran released a hand from the oilcloth and snatched up the charm. Something so simple and small wouldn’t interfere with his amulet, and though the charm couldn’t possibly relieve the coming assault on his senses, it might take the edge off. Enough to help him hold his barriers fast, if he was lucky.
    “Hey!” A sharp tug on the oilcloth yanked Kiran from his thoughts. Dev was scowling at him in exasperation from a few feet away, a length of rope in his hand. “Let go, already. I can’t tie this last knot with you pulling like that.”
    “Sorry.” Kiran released the oilcloth and shoved the charm into his pocket. The storm was still far enough away that the thunder was only a low grumbling, but each distant lightning strike sent fire racing along his nerves. Dev finished his knot and directed Kiran over to help him set up a camping tarp. He used a huge boulder as the anchor for one long side and pounded stakes deep into the ground for the other, forming a slanted shelter with open sides.
    “I doubt we’ll get rain, but it’s best to be prepared,” he yelled over a loud wind gust. Kiran gritted his teeth and tried to focus on the task and not the increasingly ominous sky. When Dev turned away to check the stakes, Kiran slipped the muting charm out of his pocket and under his sock cuff, against his skin. Thankfully, only the untalented had to activate charms with their own blood. Kiran sent a slender thread of power into the charm. His sight dimmed, the world turning gray. When lightning struck again, to his relief the fire burning his nerves raw lessened a fraction.
    Dev pulled Kiran under the slanted shelter of the tarp and sat down on folded blankets. “Now we wait,” he said, his voice faint and tinny sounding.
    Kiran drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, hoping to hide his shivering. Lightning flashed outside, and the resulting crash of thunder was lost in the soundless white fire in Kiran’s head. So much power, so close...even with the little muting charm’s help, the sensations threatened to overwhelm his control. Under his clothes, the amulet sparked and burned against the skin of his chest, and he hoped desperately its protections would hold. Lightning struck again, closer yet. Power smashed against his barriers. He buried his head in his arms, choking back a scream. He had to stay hidden from Ruslan, regardless of the